Page 51 of Forbidden Desires

I gasped softly as the finality of those words shattered my heart, as did watching Eric, the man I loved, walk out of my life.

CHAPTER 25

Jasmine

By the end of that day, Eric had sent over my severance of contract papers. At the least, I wasn’t getting smacked with a breach of contract. He was just cutting me off and cutting me out of his life, believing I’d betrayed him.

I was left alone and desolate. Absolutely gutted. I still didn’t know how James had discovered the information about my parents but whatever resources he had, I was certain he’d found out about Eric’s parents the same way. There was no other explanation for how those details could have come to light. James was the only common denominator, and I knew he was vindictive enough to do something so despicable to Ericandmake it look like I was involved and betrayed Eric in the process.

In essence, James had set me up for his own sick, twisted revenge. Provide me with the details about my parents’ deaths, then leak Eric’s most sacred secret. Make it look like I gave up Eric’s private life just to have a slice of my own back.

It was all so fucked up. Especially when there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to make Eric believe I had nothing to do with the article. No amount of begging or pleading or trying to explain what Iimaginedhappened would make him change his mind. Not without proof of James’ involvement, of which I had none.

I hadn’t stopped crying since Eric left my apartment, and right now there was only one person I trusted that could help me make sense of my upside-down world.Dominique.

I picked up my cell, hoping and praying that if she was aware of that damned article, she knew I had nothing to do with being the anonymous source. I dialed her number and waited, feeling my anxiety increase as the ringer went on and on until she eventually picked up the call.

“Jasmine, finally. I was wondering when you were going to call me.”

Her voice was calm and steady. Non-judgemental. That was a relief. Judging by her greeting, I had the feeling that she already knew about me and Eric, but I had no idea if she’d seen what had been printed inThe Affluent Collective. Or what she knew in general.

Regardless, it all came pouring out of me. “Dominique, something terrible happened.” My voice sounded choked, like the words were fighting against leaving my already scratchy, dry throat from crying. “Someone exposed details about Eric’s parents in the worst possible way, and he thinks I’m the one who provided the information. I don’t know what to do—”

“Taking a nice, deep, calm breath to start would be the first best thing to do, darling.”

As always, Dominque was cool, calm, and collected. It was a trait that I had thought I’d mastered, but obviously I still had a lot to learn. This whole situation had thrown me off kilter and out of sorts.

I did as she said, though. One breath in, one out.

“Good girl,” she said, once I wasn’t quite as frazzled. “Now, I’ve already read the nasty article about Eric’s parents. Unfortunately, it’s a big buzz around the prominent circles in Coral Gables. I haven’t been able to reach him directly by phone. I get the impression he’s not taking any calls at the moment, all things considered, but he did send me a text telling me not to worry about him.”

That wasn’t as reassuring as I wanted it to be. “Did he say anything about me?”

Dominique hesitated for a moment before replying. “Well, he rather politely told me that due to irreconcilable differences, he would be terminating your contract and, through no fault of mine, has decided to cease escort services for the foreseeable future.”

It was so brusque and impersonal that it hurt. To be talked about like I was just a failed business transaction made my heart twist in my chest. But then again, that’s exactly what I had been at the start, hadn’t I? Who knew I’d fall in love Eric over the course of our time together.

“Dominique, I would never do such a thing—”

“Child, I’m not stupid,” she said, cutting me off, and I could easily imagine her stern look aimed directly at me for even implying such a thing. “I’ve known you long enough to know that you weren’t this ‘anonymous source’ that popped up out of nowhere. Now, why doesEricthink you are?”

“From what I understand, James and Eric have been going back and forth with each other on some business issues. Whatever happened, I know it’s been stressful and tense for Eric.” I stood from my sofa and walked over to the window in my living room, staring out over the nearby park I lived next to. “So, this last trip to Eric’s parents’ I was sick and didn’t go with him. James came to my apartment, then he…he…”

“Jasmine, what did he do?” Dominque’s voice was direct and alarmed.

I know what she feared and quickly reassured her. “It wasn’t that. He had some private investigator look into my parents’ hit and run. He found the person responsible, and he came by to give me the information, which now, in hindsight, feels like a set up. Eric’s driver saw him in my apartment when he brought me some groceries, and well, a few hours laterThe Affluent Collectivepublishes this ‘breaking news’.”

“Oh, I have no doubt that James is behind this,” Dominique said angrily. “Word has it that Eric bought a very lucrative piece of property right out from under James to make it into a co-op for artists, and we both know that James is not a man to be slighted like that without finding a way to be vindictive.”

“I walked right into his trap,” I said, shaking my head at my naiveté. “I know James gave me the information on my parents, which has just left me confused and unsure of what to do when all this feels like petty revenge for what happened between us, and a way to hurt Eric, too, for losing out on the property he wanted.”

“Jasmine, you know as well as I do that James would have found a way to get to you, or Eric, if that was his goal,” she assured me in that motherly, soothing voice of hers. “And for now, there’s nothing that can be done to change what has already happened. Eric will be fielding the fallout from this obnoxious invasion of privacy and while I believe that he will survive publicly over time, it will be the fact that it happened at all that will be the hardest for him to handle and compartmentalize.”

“With him believing I was the source.” Throat tight with emotion, I pressed a hand to my chest, hating that Eric was alone and in an agony of his own. That I could do nothing to soothe or easehispain. “I have no proof that James is the person wholeaked the information. Just a gut feeling because everything was too planned out. But I do know that if Eric suspects him, and confronts him, James will tell him that I took the information about my parents in exchange for giving him those details, and awful lies, about his parents. I don’t know what to do.”

“Unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do, Jasmine,” Dominique said, her tone gentle but blunt. “Eric isn’t going to be in the headspace to think rationally for a while, not until things die down and he has some kind of control over the situation. Just remember, that the truth always prevails.”

A humorless laugh escaped me, because the possibility of the truth being exposed seemed highly unlikely. Someone with deep pockets like James would have undoubtedly covered his tracks. In fact, wasn’t he the one that told me that money could cover things up and make them disappear, like the truth behind who had killed my parents?

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